Generational diversity and team innovation: the roles of conflict and shared leadership

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology Vol. 15; p. 1501633
• Main Authors: Wang, Lingyi, Duan, Xu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 07.01.2025
• Subjects: affective conflict; cognitive conflict; generational diversity; Psychology; shared leadership; team innovation performance; team innovation performance; affective conflict; cognitive conflict; generational diversity; shared leadership
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1501633

The increasing generational diversity in modern teams has sparked an ongoing debate about its impact on team performance. Grounded in decision-making and social identity theories, this study explores the multifaceted relationship between generational diversity and team innovation performance, examining the mediating roles of cognitive and affective conflicts and the moderating role of shared leadership. The findings from a three-wave survey of five multi-generational teams in a Chinese organization reveal that generational diversity predicts both cognitive and affective conflicts, which subsequently exert opposing effects on team innovation. Shared leadership positively moderates the relationship between cognitive conflict and team innovation, amplifying the indirect positive effect of generational diversity. However, shared leadership does not moderate the relationship between affective conflict and team innovation. These results offer a more nuanced understanding of the dual role of generational diversity in team innovation and underscore the importance of shared leadership in harnessing its potential benefits.